J Dunster Art Blog – Oil Painting, Portraits, and Cats
Figurative art, oil & acrylic painting, figure drawing, and cat portraits
Available for sale on DailyPaintworks. Oil on cradled panel, 6×6″.
I actually did this painting last year, but finally, finally I post it on this blog! I used an old B&W public domain photo reference, and as such, had to add the colors myself. But that’s an enjoyable challenge!
Time for more figure drawings! For a very long time, ever since I took my first figure drawing class at age 18, I’ve kept returning to life drawing classes and sessions. This kind of drawing discipline helps keep skills sharp. You have to draw the model in front of you—no time for lots of erasing and fussing, as the model won’t stay still forever!
And here are a few more sketches from a nude model. These sketches are usually done from 15-30-minute poses. Never longer than 30 minutes.
The above sketch is available for sale on DailyPaintworks.
And yet another!
This time, I’ve got a little 4×4 inch oil sketch. Not much to say about this, other than it was fun to paint and has a little looser style for me. I studied some fashion illustration in art school, so I sometimes enjoy painting glamour or fashion faces. I hope I can paint more with this loose style in the future.
“Eyeliner” 4×4 inches, oil on panel.
The fun thing about this painting is that I used a little wood panel that I’d primed with a lead-based oil foundation. For those of you who are not painters, this means absolutely nothing, so you can stop reading now. 😉
I sealed the panel with this acrylic glue-like stuff (Golden Brand “GAC 100” acrylic medium). Then I covered the panel with a few coats of M. Harding’s “Foundation White,” a lead-based white paint that can be used for priming canvases and panels. I liked the surface for painting and will be using more of this stuff. And don’t worry, I was careful with the evil lead paint. I didn’t eat any of it or anything!
A shout-out to Gifsandstock at DeviantArt for letting me use their fab stock photo as reference!
“Flowing Hair,” oil on cradled wood panel, 6×6 inches. This image is cropped. Click to see it uncropped.
I was struck by the stock photo (by Gifsandstock!) and wanted to do a painting inspired by the moody photo. I hope it turned out okay. I’m always learning something about how to mix colors, apply paint, and so forth. So much more to learn! So much more practice to do! But then every artist (if they’re being honest with themselves) will tell you the same thing!
First off, let me thank photographer Cathleen Tarawhiti for allowing artists to use her work as stock photography! Thanks beyond words. Cathleen is one of my favorite stock photographers and I already have acquired a stack of her photos, which I plan on using as reference in the future.
Acrylic on Gessobord, 5×5 inches. WORK IN PROGRESS
There’s a long story behind this painting. Well, maybe not that long, but I’ll make it feel long! 😉
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not participating in Daily Paintworks. The key thing for many artists is “daily.” I haven’t been very good about producing something “daily,” but lately I’ve been really trying.
Today (well, last night) I had a busy day and couldn’t get to painting until later in the evening. I had several oil paintings in the works, almost done—but decided that they weren’t quite ready for prime time. (Later I discovered that one probably was. Oh, what a fool am I!) So I decided to pull out the old set of acrylics. Well, the new set of acrylics (I bought a few new tubes and had some samples to try out) but you get the idea.
I haven’t done a lot of acrylic painting lately. I never really have painted as much in acrylics as I have oils. The last time I painted in acrylics it wasn’t that tough and kind of fun (finished a portrait sketch in about an hour) so I thought, “How hard can it be?” I thought I’d bang out my “daily painting” in an hour and that would be it!
Oh, what a fool am I!
I chose a lovely stock photo to paint from and got started. And had trouble. I don’t think the painting is beyond hope—not at all—but I had a very limited palette and I didn’t like my brushes (that’s it, blame the materials!). Ugh. Anyway, I got stressed out. The “quick one hour sketch” took several hours. Very frustrating. But not beyond hope.
So that is this painting’s story. I’ll update this post when I do whatever else it is I’ll be doing to this painting. Probably not too much more. (I hope it’s close to being done! I’ve suffered enough! 😉 )
UPDATE: I may not complete this painting for a while. I may actually just start a new painting using the same stock, but with a larger size. (And I may do that one in oils.) Am still not quite sure.
Another painting! I fuss over this one, but I do like it. It’s called “Sad Tears” and it’s part of my “novela” series, inspired by those fabulous, campy Spanish-language soap operas. So many tears, so many emotions!
Click on image to see larger, uncropped picture. Original is 6×6″ on oil panel.
The panel I painted on uses a “dovetail slot” (which you can read more about here). The panel is about 3/8″ thick and has a slot in the back where you can slide the panel onto a nail and it’ll hang flat on the wall. Pretty cool; no worries about framing or attaching wires or hooks to the back!
I’ve been enjoying working with my oil paints. I do love oils! They are so expressive and forgiving. So many rich colors to choose from! I’ll be writing about that more in the future.
I’ve been neglectful of this blog lately, but not of painting! Several paintings are in the pipeline, or have been completed. This painting is up on my account on Daily Paintworks. I love Daily Paintworks. It’s perfect for me. A lot of artists doing studies, like I do, and practicing to get better! And there’s the motivation to do daily paintings, which is exactly what I need!
Click on the picture to see it larger. The original is oil on cradled panel, 6×6″.
I was simply enjoying the colors and light on her face. The texture of the panel (Ampersand’s “artist” line) was kind of nice. Kind of “canvasy.” I call her “Brown Eyes.”
Recently I decided to enter a Jerry’s Artarama art contest. I had nothing to lose, and if I won, I’d get a gift certificate for Jerry’s. Since I am officially an art materials junkie, this sounded very appealing!
The challenge was to use specific art materials. For the contest I entered, it was Jerry’s “house brand” of Soho oil paints. Soho is student grade, and very affordable. I had already bought a set of Soho Oils (because I’m an art materials junkie, remember?) so I proceeded to do two paintings using these paints.
I won’t lie, I love my artist-grade oil paints, but this challenge was a lot of fun and I’m glad I undertook it.
6×8 inches on Pintura Painting Panel, using Soho Oil Paint brand. Limited palette of Titanium White, Light Red, Ultramarine Blue, and Prussian Blue. (Another painting where I used no model or reference.)
Well, I got the news a few days ago, I got an honorable mention. So that means a nice little gift certificate for Jerry’s, which was of course, the whole point! 😉